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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “composer”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “composer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 2 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

QR Code Composer – Automatic QR code generation shows at wp.org #4 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders & File Manager places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 1125 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Visual Composer Website Builder 30K+ · 4.6★ (220) wp.org #1 2 Live Composer – Free WordPress Website Builder 10K+ · 4.4★ (212) wp.org #2 3 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Flipbox – Awesomes Flip Boxes Image Overlay 9K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 D Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) 60K+ · 5.0★ (108) wp.org #9 ↓2 3 too low 7 Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders & File Manager 200K+ · 4.7★ (1125) wp.org #17 ↑6 8 too low 10 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 U Unique Headers 10K+ · 4.9★ (160) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #19 ↓3 7 too low 13 Perfect Brands for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.7★ (414) wp.org #21 ↓2 8 too low 14 Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #16 ↓3 2 too low 15 QR Code Composer – Automatic QR code generation 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #4 ↓1 11 too high 16 Disable and Remove Google Fonts | GDPR & DSGVO friendly 100K+ · 4.5★ (46) wp.org #20 ↓3 4 too low 17 Taxonomy Term Listing for Visual Composer 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓1 10 too high 18 WP SAML Auth 7K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too high 19 Bold Page Builder 40K+ · 3.6★ (66) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 UiChemy – Convert Figma, Prompts and AI Builds to Elementor, Gutenberg and Bricks 8K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #22 ↓2 2 too low 21 Innovs WPBakery Visual Composer WHMCS Elements 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #12 ↓1 9 too high 22 Futurio Extra 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Animated Headline – Visual Composer (WPBakery Page Builder) 70+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 Advanced Ads for WPBakery Page Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.